Marketing Intelligence
Undoubtedly, one of the cornerstones of a prosperous firm is marketing. Therefore, creating an effective and lasting marketing plan is of utmost importance in all industries. However, how does one go around achieving this? Like many others in contemporary business, the answer to this crucial issue is in the data. Good strategies come from a grasp of the market. Thus they are supported by factual data.
Marketing intelligence is concerned with information that advances all areas of marketing in contemporary business. Let’s look more closely.
What is marketing intelligence?
Market intelligence is data a company gathers about a particular market or industry to help with business decisions and competitive strategy.
Market intelligence is utilised to discover more about the existing market, its clients, difficulties, rivals, and room for growth. Both internal and external sources, such as sales data, surveys, social media, news websites, manufacturers, customers, and distributors, are available to businesses for this information.
For better, more targeted social media advertising, businesses, for instance, can collect detailed client demographic information and their purchasing habits. Additionally, market data may help a company decide what products to produce and how to improve its brand.
What is the importance of marketing intelligence?
Since it forms the basis for all marketing, market intelligence is essential to the success of every company. Data collection, analysis, and utilisation are critical components of market intelligence. Market intelligence helps you become more customer-centric, comprehend market demands and consumer views, collect pertinent data in real time, increase the likelihood of upselling, lower the risk of doing so, get a competitive edge, and more. Market intelligence is one of the essential elements in putting effective plans into action for the development of any corporation since these benefits are vital to the success of any organisation.
Here are a few instances illustrating the value of market information for every company.
- By knowing where you stand in the industry, you may gain a complete insight into the market by gathering market information through surveys. It will provide details on what your competitors are doing, market demand, and your potential target market, among other things. A company may evaluate its market position and create a suitable strategy by analysing this data.
- You may conduct marketing intelligence surveys to analyse your product and obtain helpful information on market product trends, consumer demand for certain features, and product specs. You may explore your products and make wise business decisions using this knowledge.
- Knowing your target audience can also help you better understand their needs. By gathering market intelligence, businesses may use surveys to narrow their target market for certain goods and services.
- Competitor analysis is a vast area of market intelligence. Today’s business environment makes it essential to conduct surveys to learn about your rivals. Businesses may utilise this data to adjust their products as necessary, examine the successes and failures of their rivals, and create plans based on the competitor’s position.
What is the structure of marketing intelligence?
Marketing intelligence comprises various distinct but related pieces of data that provide insight into the current and impending state of the industry. Following is an explanation of how intelligence marking is structured.
1. Intelligence on markets
Market intelligence commonly referred to as market intelligence, refers to all available data about a specific market’s conditions and various market development indicators. It is crucial when entering a new target market because success is unlikely without a strong market penetration plan. This data collection provides information on market potential and trends. When a company is already active in the market, it highlights its market share to identify market potential.
2. Customer intelligence
The key to marketing intelligence is having a solid understanding of one’s target market. When deciding how to market to new potential customers, you must know who your regular and best customers are, what demographics they belong to, and what attitudes they have toward you.
Customer intelligence is equally important to marketing to potential new customers to guarantee a great customer experience and loyalty.
3. Competitive intelligence
When it comes to marketing strategy, this area of business intelligence is critical. Competitor intelligence includes all data on current and potential rivals in specific markets and industries. By gathering market knowledge, you may study how other businesses deliver the same or comparable products and services.
Firmographic and technographic statistics, for instance, may reveal a competitor’s advantages and disadvantages, enabling a business to learn more about its rivals and how they operate.
Example of marketing intelligence
Let’s examine how a hypothetical company may use market data to get a competitive edge.
Podcasters may record, edit, and broadcast their podcasts to popular streaming services using the internet tools provided by JKL Podcasting Co. JKL marketers thoroughly analysed the podcast recording software industry to increase the company’s customer base.
In their research, they focused on four areas:
1. Competitor landscape
They researched excellent podcast recording software companies to understand their product features, pricing strategy, sales funnel, marketing techniques, and customer demographics.
2. Product
After obtaining information on the competition, they collaborated with their product team to understand their product thoroughly, including crucial characteristics, how it was comparable to rival items, and what set it apart from competitor products. Additionally, they were informed about planned developments that would be made accessible this year.
3. Market analysis
The team then researched to understand better the podcast recording software sector’s market value and expansion possibilities. They found that the number of people listening to podcasts has grown over the past ten years and is expected to grow much more in the future, thereby spurring the creation of more podcasts. JKL marketers are aware that there is a potential market for new or upcoming podcasters who seek simple-to-use software due to the development and investment in the podcasting industry, as well as the rise in interest in people wishing to create podcasts.
4. Customer base
Finally, to learn more about how current consumers felt about the product, the JKL marketing team spoke with a focus group. Customers guide them through their workflow for creating podcasts using JKL software, explaining which features they like and what more features or enhancements they want to see.
As a consequence of this study, JKL has gained considerable information about their competitive environment, product benefits to highlight, market expansion possibilities, and methods to keep its current customer base interested and using the platform.
Final words
Market intelligence might provide a thorough understanding of the industry, improve customer retention, boost productivity, and give you a competitive edge.
Like with any investment, organisations must weigh the benefits and cons of a proposed project against its potential to affect the bottom line positively. On the one hand, accurate marketing intelligence requires a sizable amount of data from the marketing environment’s online, offline, and external areas. However, a marketing plan using ineffective tactics puts a company at odds with its competitors and target market.